Traffic-related fatalities are one of the leading causes of death in many countries throughout the world. Many traffic accidents are due to temporary physical incapacitation of the driver. Such physical incapacitation may be, for example, due to the influence of drugs and/or alcohol, the effects of under sleeping, and/or the use of hand-held devices. While harsher punishments may discourage some people from partaking in volatile driving practices, they may not serve as a sufficient deterrent for all people. Oftentimes it is the other driver, who was practicing safe driving, who is injured or killed in accidents due to drunk driving or the like. Thus, the law-abiding citizen may feel powerless against the risk of encountering a nearby driver whose capacity to drive is in some way hindered.
Thus, many systems and devices exist for increasing driver safety. The most obvious of these are airbags and seatbelts. However, recent innovations have been introduced which monitor and/or regulate an under-slept or incapacitated driver's behavior. One example of such innovations is an in-car breathalyzer device which prevents the car from starting unless and until the driver blows and registers legal blood-alcohol content into the device. However, many ways exist to bypass this requirement, such as having another person blow into the device. Moreover, such devices are mainly only imposed upon people with prior driving-while-intoxicated convictions.
Another recent innovation has been devices and systems which monitor a user's eye activity. Such devices warn a driver with a vibration of the seat or steering wheel if they detect the driver to be nodding off while at the wheel. While such innovations are welcome, they do not serve to protect a driver from other nearby cars. No devices or systems exist which warn other drivers and/or police about a possibly incapacitated nearby driver. Such an innovation would be extremely useful because it would be the first to protect a driver from other drivers, as opposed to protecting a driver from himself/herself.
In view of the foregoing, there is a need for a device, system and method for warning other drivers about a possible incapacitated state of a driver a vehicle.